~looking ahead to whatever 2014 might bring us~

A very cold and early good morning to you all from here along the Western Slopes of Colorado.  It's Tuesday and the last day of 2013.  Not a clue as to where all of the time went this year but whether we are ready or not, come tomorrow 2014 will be here to greet us.  I guess it will always be true what they say, "time flies."

So much has changed for me in the soon to be called "days of yore" of 2013.  When I woke up January 1st of this year, I was home in my old bed on 14th Street in Hutchinson, KS.  I was a Title One reading/math teacher in a wonderful school called Lincoln Elementary.  Everything was good and there was no way I would have believed anyone who told me that I'd be living 611 miles away on the last day of the year.  Yet here I am and since late May, I have made my home with Mike here along the Western Slopes of Colorado.  Life remains good, although very changed for me.  The adventure of leaving my lifelong home of Reno County, Kansas and taking up residence at the nearly 6,000 feet elevation level has brought many new memories for me.  Actually, it's really hard to imagine that we've been married seven months already~yep, time flies.

The first months of this year will be very busy with much to be done.  We are anxiously awaiting the birth of a sweet little baby to be born to my son and daughter-in-law on Whidbey Island, WA.  At spring break time in early April, I will fly there to hold that sweet baby and give thanks to God that I can finally become a grandmother.  LIFE~33 years ago, I held that little baby's father in my arms and now it is his turn to do the same.  

In late January, I will return to Kansas to visit and get some things taken care of there in regards to my home in Hutchinson.  While I am there, I need to take "Old Lefty" in for its 1,000,000 mile check up with Dr. Chan over at the Kansas Orthopaedic Center.  I'm having a few issues with it, none that surprise me though.  In one of the final surgeries that were done after my accident in 2011, the good doctor cut out a section of the ulna in order that I might be able to get increased movement in my wrist.  I learned about a year ago that the bone grew back together, not what they wanted, and that I might have needed further surgery.  Not sure that I want to go through that all again but will feel better if they just look at it and advise what to do.  In its current state, holding anything in my left hand or arm gets painful rather quickly.  Since I'm going to be holding a very precious little bundle of joy that will call me "Grandma Peggy", then I want to be sure that all is well.

Last year at this time, I wrote a blog post about what life had been like for me in 2012 and I'm reposting it below, if you would so care to read.  2013 went by in a "whoosh" and although things are different here, one thing has never changed.  The same God who watched over me back in Kansas is right here alongside me in a place that is so close to the state of Utah, that you could just about spit and hit it.  My homesickness and loneliness for "home" as I once knew it has subsided exponentially and for that I am most grateful.  I am blessed a hundred-fold.  What more could I possibly wish for?

Best wishes to you all, my dear friends and family, for a wonderfully peaceful and prosperous 2014 ahead.  No matter what happens, the good or the bad, I say that we all just hold hands and stick together.  Thank you for being my friends and I love you guys all!

From December 26th of 2012

There's a first time for everything~

As the remaining days of 2012 quickly finish flying by, many of us are stopping to pause and think about what we've done all year as well as what we may think of doing in the 12  months that will soon be set before us.  For better or worse, some of us have had a more "eventful" 2012 than others and for my friends who have had a tougher year than one would have ever hoped for, may 2013 be so very much brighter.  Please do NOT give up hope that it WILL be a better one!

For me, 2012 will definitely go down in the "record book" as the year that I witnessed plenty of "firsts" in life, beginning back in early March when I moved for the very first time in my life, out of Reno County.  And although it was only for a short 3 month period of time, I called the Sedgwick County town of Valley Center my "home".  In that short span of time, I made several friends in the neighbourhood and more important than I realized, I learned a lot about myself and what I was made of along the way.  

My Valley Center home on North Abilene Street, in April after a refreshing spring rain.  I took this picture and then took off my shoes in order that I could slosh through the water with my bare feet, the first time that I did it on purpose since I was just a little kid.  Man, that was fun!

I "crossed off" the number 1 item on the "Miller Bucket List" in late May-"to travel to Maine and see my very first lighthouse ever!"  Amazingly enough, except for one flat tire on the return trip home, I had no other troubles in that over 4,000 mile round trip journey.  When I drove into the parking area next to the Portland Head Lighthouse at Cape Elizabeth, Maine it was the realization of a dream that had been years in the making.  It was a definitely "Thank you God" kind of moment.

The trip from Valley Center, Kansas to Cape Elizabeth, Maine was filled with many "firsts" along the way.  It was my first time to drive so very far away all on my own and through traffic so "fast and furious" that I had to literally close my eyes sometimes and just hope to goodness that the lane that I picked was the right one and that no other driver, crazier than I am, was right behind me.  I saw the north eastern part of the United States in all of its splendour for the first time~from the rain soaked yet beautiful village of Owego, New York to all of the people living in Massachusetts  who had no more of an idea where they were "geographically speaking" than I did.  The people of that state not being able to tell me directions anywhere because they honestly felt lost most of the time themselves, is a mystery that will never be solved by me.  And when it was all said and done, this crazy, 5-day journey to a place far away from my home taught me a valuable lesson~for the FIRST time in my life, I realized that I was quite capable of taking care of myself on my own and that even if problems would arise, I could still handle it and arrive home in one piece.  That was a great life  lesson for me~

I learned from my dear friend in Oklahoma City, Kyle Duncan, that my ophidiophobia could be lessened or even cured.  I met Kyle this summer for the very first time at his home in OKC and it was there that he introduced me to his collection of ball pythons.  It was my first time ever to not only stand next to bins that contained "real" snakes but to actually allow myself to pick one of them up and allow it to work its way around me.  Definitely was an experience and I thank my good friend Kyle for showing me that snakes were not nearly as bad as I had thought they would be.

Ok, now let me preface this photo by saying I was doing pretty well until seconds before the photo was taken.  The snake and I had a friendly and civilized agreement that was working out pretty well...I would not scream or start running around like the proverbial "chicken with its head chopped off"  if she/he would not do anything that sane people would deem "silly".  Obviously the snake had made the agreement with "fingers crossed" and at this point in time was doing what snakes do best~exploring.  As you can see by this photo, it was beginning to head right on up poor "old lefty" and I was afraid that after she ran out of arm room, the top of my head would be the next likely place.  But I made it because there was no way on God's earth that I was going to let my death certificate read, "she died because a snake scared her to death."  Kyle to the rescue!

And even though it really wasn't a "bucket list" item, I managed somehow to make friends with yet another reptilian when I met "Todd" the iguana at the home of my dear friends Sara and Tom just a few weeks back.  I had heard so many cool stories about her and what a nice thing it was to actually put "a face to the name".  I learned a lot during my stay and one of the main things was the well-cared for iguanas, just like Todd is, can make wonderful indoor pets. I had never dreamt, not even in my wildest of dreams, that one day I would stand in the same room as an iguana, let alone pet or hold one in my arms.  But for the very first time in my life, I did.  Here we are, shown below:

Ok, now this is the truth...I fell in love with "Todd" the iguana upon sight.  She has a personality all of her own and because she has been given such good and loving care all of her life, Todd is actually quite congenial.  Thanks to Sara, Tom, and "Todd" for this first in my life encounter.

Well, by next week at this time, 2012 will be "history" and we will all be off on the next "leg" of this journey through our time here together.  I made the decision last evening to shorten up my current "bucket list" (revision #1,200 or something :)  and stick with the following 5 items until I get them completed and done.  

1.  to power parachute once again
2.  to continue making my back yard more friendly for an "older person", that'd be me
3.  to continue to catch up with all of my facebook friends in person and buy them something to drink and  talk about life for awhile
4.  to journey to New York City and the village of Owego, NY in late March for a week's stay during our spring break from school
5.  to finally learn to sew something for the very first time in life
AND to follow the sage and wise advice of the truest friend I ever had, and NEVER let my bucket list go empty because it's just pretty hard to kick a full bucket.

I'm going to take a break from writing my blog now until after January 1st.  I want to say "thanks" my friends for all of the encouragement and support you have given me not only this year in 2012 but for as long as you have known me.  I gotta tell you, there is NO way I could have made it through life without the help and support of good friends.  I am beholden to you all~may someday I do for you what you have done so unceasingly for me. And you know what?  The truth of the matter is that you do those good things for me and for others, NOT in hopes of something in return for yourselves....you have done it because you know it is the good, meet and right thing to do for all of humankind.  The mark of a great friend, if I do say so myself.   Good Night!  Happy New Year in 2013 from me and my family.  May it be peaceful, healthy and prosperous beyond measure.

My New York City tour guide and the protector of "elderly aunts"~Jessica Scott, my niece
I'm afraid she doesn't know what she agreed to do LOL.

Greetings from the land of red dirt~

A very early "morning" to everyone out there with greetings that are being sent to you from a place that this blog has never been written from before~Altus, Oklahoma.  Mike and I came here from Kansas a couple of days ago to visit my sister and brother-in-law (Wes and Sherry St. Clair) and Mike's Aunt Margaret who lives only a couple of hours away from here in Olney, Texas.  As it usually does, the time flew by so very quickly and in just a few hours from now, we will be back on the road and heading home to Montrose, Colorado.  I'm very grateful that we took this planned "detour" on the road back to the Western Slopes.  What a blessing to see 3 people along the way who have meant so much to us. 

My sister Sherry was born into this world to be a teacher, just like I was.  She taught fourth-graders for well into nearly 4 decades.  Back in May of 2010, we both kind of decided that it was time to call it "quits" from teaching and each of us officially "retired" at the end of that school year.  After 32 years on my part and 41 years of service on her part, it surely seemed enough.  Sherry flunked out of retirement shortly before I did later on that year, and within just a few months both of us found ourselves right back in the same school systems that we had only a short time before said our good-byes to.  Geesch, go figure!  She has been still working away with kids, teaching in the very same building she retired from, Roosevelt Elementary here in Altus since then.  Me?  Well I gave retirement a try twice back home in Kansas and since those didn't seem to work out so well, I'm giving teaching another year or two or three in south western Colorado.  I guess we must have been born to be teachers, would you think so?

You know I believe that I learned to be the kind of educator I am today by watching my sister teach before me.  She already had more than 5 years of experience before I even entered the profession and it was only natural that in my beginning years that I would seek out her advice as to what to do in the classroom.  Sherry was a natural teacher, it was her gift.  What I really liked about her teaching style was that it seemed even the naughtiest and most challenging of her students would always show her respect.  Honestly, all she had to do was just show them her "look" and call out their names.  Those kids learned from her and they managed to learn a lot!  But heck now that I think of it, I guess the same thing has happened to me.  I learned how to handle the difficult experiences in the classroom just by watching her.  For the gift of showing me how to reach the ones that many think are unreachable, I thank my sister. 

We've had a lot of fun experiences together with the kids in our classrooms over the years.  Our students have been pen pals with one another countless times and how enjoyable it was to be able to share the great things about living in the states of Kansas and Oklahoma with one another.  We've challenged one another to aluminum can recycling contests with each other, seeing whose students could pick up the greatest number of old pop and beer cans alongside the roadways of both the Sunflower and Sooner states.  I would like to say that my students had the best record, but alas Sherry's kids always found the way to find the most 3 out of the 5 years that we did it.  Guess it really doesn't matter any way because the end result was that we were able to combine fun and learning into one big ecology unit for science.  And oh, by the way...just imagine that!  A kid could actually learn AND have fun at the same time. 

We found a way to teach our students a lesson in gratitude when we challenged one another to see who could collect the most pennies in the springtime of  1996  when one of my young Amish students back at Yoder Grade School was very ill with leukemia.  Between Sherry's Oklahoma 4th graders and my Kansas first and second graders, we came up with more than enough pennies for "Calvin's penny mile" and we were able to give his parents over $3,000 towards his medical care.  Sadly within a year,  young Calvin Bontrager had passed away from the disease but before he died, Calvin knew that two teachers and over 45 kids from both of the schools had cared enough about him to collect even the most meager of the coins, the penny, for him.  

In the past two days we've had the chance to visit about the old times of growing up together back home on a farm in south central Kansas and laughed our fool heads off as we looked at boxes of photographs together.  We have talked about how we miss our mom and dad and wish they could still be here somehow to see how things are going for us.  There are times that I wonder what our folks would say about the both of us still being teachers, especially since our names are officially on the retirement rosters from both states of Kansas and Oklahoma.  In all honesty, I think they would have told us we should not have even done that in the first place :)  I can just about hear my father say, "Peggy Ann, I told you and I told you!"  To him I would reply, "I know Daddy :)"

This home on Cherokee Strip in Altus holds a wealth of memories for me.  If I close my eyes, I can just about hear the footsteps of my Ricky, Grahame and Ursela and of Sherry's two kids Brandy and Mandy, running through the house.  Back in the early days when I was a newly divorced single parent of a little 4 year old boy named Little Ricky, it was this house here in south western Oklahoma that I would always come to in the summer time when I needed a break from life in Kansas.  Sherry and Wes took that little boy of mine under their wing and treated him as if he was one of their own.  They did that expecting nothing in return and they did it because they loved him and me too.  One thing you have to say about the St. Clair Family, they believed in the concept of "it takes a village" long before it became a popular notion of today's culture.  If your life has been touched by them in any way, then you should consider yourself among the most blessed.  I know that I do.

Well, the clock on the wall reads nearly 5:30 now so it's probably time to get going.  A few more things to be packed and then we are on the road once again.  Not sure when we will arrive back in Montrose but if not tonight, then by tomorrow in the morning for sure.  We are heading out a different route this time as we go through Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and then north to Pueblo, Colorado.  The weather may be a little on the snowy side so if we cannot cross back over the pass in the daylight hours, then we will be sure to wait it out safely somewhere along the way.  God is with us so shoot, I'm not afraid.  We have been most fortunate to have been spared any serious problems thus far and with that knowledge, all a person can do is head out.  Prayers go out for all people this day, especially the many travellers who are trying to get home just like Mike and I.  I always love to remember the song about God's eye being upon the lowly sparrow.  Surely we count for more...

Have a good Saturday everyone out there.  We are thinking of you all and love you friends and family very much.  This is the 28th day of December in the year 2013 and it's a great day to be alive in.  If you are reading this just take it as a sign.  You were meant to be here, you are alive.  Go out and find what your destiny for this day is.  I'm heading out soon to learn what mine might be.  You know, it's just a part of the plan.

From a time that was long ago~with Brandy, Mandy and my little Ricky during the summer of 1984 when we visited Altus and Aunt Sherry and Uncle Wes' house.

Having fun in the back yard wearing Uncle Wes' "military guy" hat.  

Reliving the "old days" and remembering some very happy memories :)

Back in the spring of 2010 when we only THOUGHT we were going to retire.  

A Kansas Christmas morning to you all!

Merry Christmas morning to all of you out there and sending you best wishes for a great day ahead.  My able bodied assistant, Oblio the Roundhead, is literally sprawled all over the keyboard so the words I type may sound kind of interesting in the un-edited form.  I think that she has missed me and earlier in the wee hours of the morning she took a flying leap from the floor to the middle of our bed and began to encourage us to get up to pay some attention to her.  Sure seemed like old times and how I have missed those "Oblio in the early morning" moments that we used to have, now so long ago.  Life changes, things are different now and even cats have to realize that from time to time.

What a wonderful journey we have thus far had during our trip to from home in Montrose, Colorado to here in Hutchinson, Kansas.  We have been blessed in so many ways and for that I will always be so very grateful.  We arrived here at 12:12 a.m. this past Monday morning and have been busy doing things ever since then.  Tomorrow we will head out after breakfast for Altus, Oklahoma where my sister Sherry and brother-in-law Wes live.  The following day we will continue on in our journey as we cross over the Red River into Texas to visit Mike's Aunt Margaret.  After spending one more night's sleep in Altus, it will be time to head back to the Western Slopes and life there.  Mike will have to get back to his job and I will be spending the remaining week working for the home health agency that I was with this summer.  It's been a couple of months or so since I was a CNA for them and surely I haven't forgotten what to do :)  They have several people gone during the holidays and since I do enjoy doing it, I volunteered to take their places for the week.  The need for care of the elderly and homebound  folks of our world continues onward, even during the holidays.  It's actually one of the funnest jobs that I've ever done as a CNA and who knows, perhaps this summer I will go back to it for a while.  

Yesterday all of the Renfro Clan met up in the little town of Cheney, Kansas over at the Methodist Church there.  Mike's sister, Nancy Zerger, and her family hosted us all there.  There were by my count over 20 of us in attendance.  As is generally the case at the holiday time of year, we had so much food that there were leftovers to feed yet another dozen families or so.  It was all so very delicious.  After the meal, we sat down to open presents up from one another.  But before we got started, my sister-in-law took an ornament off of the tree and handed it to me.  She said that it was from Mike and that it was supposed to represent the two different states that we are from.  It brought tears to my eyes to see it and actually I thought Mike might cry as well.  He knows how difficult the transition has been for me and if I had an ornament for each time that I've cried out in despair, "I miss home!" well then we could have decorated the entire town's Christmas trees.  It was beautiful and a very sincerely loving gift to have thought of.  I was very grateful and touched by his kindness.

                                                                      the Kansas side

                                                              the Colorado side

Today we will be heading out at noon time for my hometown of Haven, Kansas to have dinner  with the Scott side of the family.  We'll be missing those family members that cannot join us, especially thinking about my mom and how much this holiday always meant to her.  The very house that I'm sitting in right now was the scene of many Scott family Christmas celebrations in the 25 years that she lived here.  She's been gone to her Heavenly home now for 6 years but I still recall how much love she put into making sure that each of her children and grandchildren had the best Christmas that she could give them.  What sacrifices over the years she must have surely made for each of us, for ALL of us.

You know, I always have this "wish list" of seeing as many people that I can each time I come back home to Kansas for a visit.  The people that I have run into so far have been mostly accidentally.  I saw my good friend and Hutch News reporter Kathy Hanks when I stopped in to pay my subscription to the paper.  At Dillons on 5th Street here in town, I ran into my oldest son's grandmother and one of his aunts.  I hadn't seen either of them for at least a couple of years.  Just as I was leaving with my groceries I ran into Napolean Irving, a man that I taught with at Lincoln Elementary one year.  Out at Lowes, I ran into my good friend Sue Hale Rettig and her daughter as they were shopping for supplies just like us.  At Walmart I came across my dear friend Katherine Degarmo and her oldest daughter and had a very good visit.  Sometimes it seems like some of the best visits are the surprise ones.

Later on today we will have to begin packing the car up with the things that need to go back with us to Colorado.  There are a few things that are left here that have never been packed up with the move.  Little by little, the rooms have been emptied and this trip we will take many of the things that remain.  My old bedroom here is nearly empty now, save for the bed and dresser but in time even they will be removed.  One of the last things to take from my room is an angel wind chime that belonged to my mom.  It was given to her by a dear friend named Connie.  When mom passed away, I brought it here to her old house and hung it up over my bed.  For all of the times that the angels watched over me in my life, I have always believed in their presence.  They have saved me from total despair more times than I can tell you.  This trip back, they will return with me and it will be like taking a bit of my mom with me to the place that I now call home.  God is good and He sends us angels to go with us in not only the bad times but the times of good as well.  You will never convince me otherwise as I know this for a fact.

Grahame and Ursela are busy in the kitchen this morning making Mike and I our Christmas breakfast brunch.  They have banned us from the kitchen and told us in no uncertain terms that they have things covered.  Their grandmother would be proud of them and once again I say that their culinary skills were a gift from her.  Later as we set the table, we will place her special table cloth atop it and remember her.  

Time for me to get busy around here as we pick up our stuff and pack away a few more things.  Soon it will be time for me to deal with my house here and the sooner I can empty things out the easier it will be.  Come the summer time, I will probably ready the house to be leased out to someone for a year or so.  I'm not really ready to sell it yet but keeping up two houses is not so easy or fun :)  Grahame has done a good job of taking care of things here but he will be probably heading on to other things in the future and I don't want it to just set empty.  God always provides and I know that if I just listen to Him, the way will be shown.  Have a beautiful Christmas Day with your families all of you.  So very glad that we were able to be here.  Best wishes for a peaceful and prosperous New Year in 2014.

                                               From the New Testament, Luke 4:10

I'm still laughing over this photo....  geesch, I can't believe it took over 3 years to figure this one out.  I got the best friend I ever had in this life because of that darn cat, so I will never complain :)

If you have to go through a "trial by fire", you can only hope it is in places like Haven, Kansas

Good morning everyone out there and I send greetings for this day, not from my home along the Western Slopes of Colorado but rather from "home" on East 14th Street here in the small city of Hutchinson, Kansas.  It's quiet here and save for me and old Oblio the Roundhead, not a creature is stirring and Obie by the way has always taken care of the "not even a mouse" part.  So glad that she hasn't forgotten me and right now is sitting on the dining room table next to the computer.  I love to feel the warmth of her body and to listen to the loud purring that she always makes.  That darn cat!  I love her and miss her so very much.

When we arrived home in the wee hours of Monday morning, one of the first things we noticed was that the Christmas tree had been "Oblio proofed" by Grahame and Ursela.  And as tired and worn out as we were, we had to laugh at how they did it!  I'd been trying for 3 Christmas seasons before this with absolutely no success.  Leave it to a couple of kids with a keen sense of problem solving skills to finally come up with the solution.  It works!

Our time will fly quickly by while we are here, heck it already has!  Later on this morning we will travel over to the small Sedgwick County town of Cheney for Christmas dinner with the Renfro Family.  Tomorrow we will go the small Reno County town (my hometown) of Haven for Christmas dinner with the Scott Family.  Then on Thursday morning before we head out of town for Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and back to Colorado, we'll have a birthday breakfast with my daughter Ursela who will be 23 years old on the day after Christmas.  So grateful that the weather has held so far and we have had no issues with getting to where we need to be.  We pray for all the travellers, ourselves included, for safe passage going to and returning from our destinations.  

37 years ago today, my family was facing a tough Christmas Day ahead after losing their home to a fire early in the morning hours of Christmas Eve.  I wrote a post about it two years ago in this blog and I'm reprinting it this morning.  In my 58-years of living here in the Sunflower State, I've been through many ordeals, numerous challenges along the way.  When I or any of my family members faced tough times, there was always someone who was willing to pick up the slack and take on not only their burdens but ours as well.  I remember that ALWAYS and thus if anyone ever wonders why this state means so very much to me and why it is hard to say that it would not longer be my home, well I guess that explains why.  I was born and raised here and Kansas will always be in my blood and since that blood runs right through my heart then you understand why.  I am thankful for the new friends and life that I have now in Colorado but I will never forget where I came from.  Wishing you all a great Christmas Eve day and I love you all so very much!

If you would so care to read, a blog post from December of 2011 is shown below.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

"trial by fire", learning the hard way how to travel light

Ok, before I begin, a fast "progress monitor" on my "do-over" of the homework assignment from yesterday's blog post.  From my living room, the 5 things I'd HATE to part with-my collection of  books written by my favorite author of all time, Garrison Keillor.  His writing style renewed my interest in recreational reading about 15 years ago.  The 5 things I COULD do without-5 books by authors Charles Kuralt and Tom Brokaw.  Realizing now that I bought them on the spur of the moment and was attracted to purchasing them in part due to the colorful book jackets they wore and were so "on sale" that they were almost given away.  Honestly friends, I never even cracked them open...not once.  They are free for the taking if you want them.  Now on to this idea of trial by fire and having to learn the very hard way of how to travel light.  


In my family there were lots of memorable dates that came and went.  Some of them marked the "good times" and others, well they marked times we all wish would never have happened.  One of those dates that we'd probably never thought would bring the "life changing" event that it did was December 24th, 1976~Christmas Eve.


On December 24th of that year I was a "newly wed" having been only married a month.  Rick and I were living in a mobile home at the edge of my hometown of Haven, Ks.  It had been fun to get ready for that first Christmas together and when we fell asleep late on the evening of December 23rd, our preparations were complete.


Three miles south of town, in a newly painted two-story farmhouse, my family was sleeping as well.   Mom and Dad in their room with my little 7-year old niece Kimberly asleep in her own bed between theirs.  Upstairs was my brother Dick in his room and my sister Sherry, her husband Wes, and their 3-year old daughter, Brandy asleep in my bedroom, only vacated by me the month before.


The traditional Scott family Christmas tree, cut down from the pasture only days before, was decorated and standing in the southeast corner of the living room, wrapped presents piled underneath it.  The fireplace had only a few hot coals left burning....all would appear was well.


In the early morning hours we heard it....noise and yelling outside.  Well, you know friends when someone is beating the heck on your front door at 4 in the morning then something is dreadfully "not right".  By the time we made it to the front door, we saw them.


My brother, Dick and sister, Sherry were standing on our front porch steps. And what was even more weird than seeing them at our house in the 'wee' morning hours was the fact that they were dressed in pajamas.  Unfortunately, it didn't take long to figure out what was going on.  My sister's simple 5 word exclamation "The house is on fire!" and the mammoth orange glow on the south eastern horizon told the story.


It didn't take that long, in all honesty, for that old farmhouse to go.  The fire started in the new fireplace, caught the back porch on fire and then quickly spread to the kitchen and the remaining seven rooms.  And out of the burning and smoke filled house, came the  people that would definitely have been in my "keeper" pile of my  "living lightly" assignment, my family.  Because my sister Sherry was pregnant with the little baby who was to be my niece Mandy, eight lives were spared that day.


The series of events that followed were filled with irony.  Daddy had this uncanny habit of carrying the set of keys for every vehicle that he owned on a key chain in the pockets of his work pants.  Luckily he found the pair of work pants quickly in the darkness and because the phone was already dead and gone, he went to his pick up to use his CB radio to call for help.  Daddy's radio handle was the "Bald Eagle" and it only took a couple of tries of calling for help before a trucker going by on 96 highway recognized who was screaming for assistance. The trucker notified the Haven Fire Department to get help.  But try as everyone might, it would be of no use.  The Haven fire truck only made it to the outskirts of town when the clutch went out.  Precious minutes flew by as they quickly got a second fire truck to pull the first one out to fight the blaze.  By the time we made it there from town, there was little to do but watch it go.  I will never forget the look of despair on my father's face....This big, strong and hard-working man who always put his family before himself and provided for them had to stand helplessly by as the fire finished engulfing everything inside.

What a "crash course" in travelling light looks like.  The aftermath, on Christmas Day 1976.  


Praise the good Lord above, miraculously no one died.  Except for some smoke inhalation, no major injuries befell anyone that day.  And you know even IF everything you ever owned was now reduced to a pile of ruins inside the deep abyss of the basement walls, well who really cared anyway?  Eight lives were spared that day...THOSE people lived to tell the story.


In as quickly as the house burnt to the ground, equally fast was the way in which friends and neighbors came to our family's aid.  Haven postmaster, Raleigh May, was the first one at the back door of our family's business, Scott's Cafe.  He pressed a check for $100 into my dad's hands, telling him he knew there would be more to come.  Man, was he ever right about that.  Food, clothing, furniture and household goods filled the back room of the cafe in the hours following.  Paul Grier, our local pharmacist, went down to fill my dad's numerous prescriptions for his heart ailment and would take absolutely NO money.  The Hempstid's opened their variety store and invited Mom to get anything they might need.  They too would take no payment. And these were just a couple of the many folks that helped.  Even now, 35 years later, the surviving members of the Scott family remember that little town with a humble and thankful heart.  If you HAVE to learn how to "travel light" in such an extreme manner, well you can only hope that it's in a place like Haven, Kansas.

My parents and grandmothers that Christmas Day of 1976~all four of them now gone from this earth.  I sure miss you guys!

As far as I'm concerned, a "miraculous" find amidst the ruins.  Not much bigger than a quarter, the duck shaped charm from my own baby bracelet.  The words "PEGGY ANN" were burnt off but the shape of the duck remained nearly perfect.  No doubt about it, friends, this goes into the "over my dead body" pile  :)


Taking time off from writing in the blog until next week when I return on Tuesday to the "land of miracles".  May you each have a blessed Christmas!

As God always provides~

You know,  it all started with a coffee pot yesterday afternoon and the series of events that followed for both Mike and I were just a part of the "plan" in store for us on a very cold and snowy late December afternoon here along the Western Slopes of Colorado.  It entered my dreams last night as we slumbered and it was the first thing I thought of this morning as my eyes popped open about 4 a.m.  

We've been busy packing our things and watching the weather for our trip to Kansas later on this morning.  The first day of winter, its solstice, arrived right on schedule and with it came moisture in the form of the white stuff falling down from the skies here in this neck of the woods.  We were just getting started with our packing when Mike had the idea of going into town and trying to pick up a cheap coffee maker to take with us and leave back in Kansas at my home there.  Made good sense to me so off we went to our local upscale thrift store run by the area's hospice.  

As things go with us sometimes, we got sidetracked on our initial intent to just run in, see what they had, and pick something up quickly.  We stopped first at the local art gallery and took a look at a Raku starfish that we both had admired back in the early fall.  Then we wandered on down the street to the hospice store and ended up spending more time there than we had originally planned.  Hey, they found us a coffee pot in the back room that hadn't been put on the shelves yet but needed a moment or two in order to test it to see if it worked properly.  "No problem!" we said and we just looked around the store while they helped to check it out.  45 minutes after we had left our home (that's only 5 minutes away in the first place) we headed back towards home.  Before leaving town, we stopped at a McDonald's that it is close by and got an ice cream cone to take with us as we headed back to the house.  The clock had moved quickly while we were in town and both of us knew we needed to get back to the house and start packing once again.

It was when we crossed Hillcrest and headed east onto Locust Road that we first saw the problem.  A car was alongside the road and parked on the shoulder and a man with a cell phone in his hand had a look on his face that showed there was a problem.  As we pulled over to the side and rolled our window down to ask if he needed help was when we saw the real problem.  A car was in the field close by with both doors open and the engine running.  The man wasn't able to speak English and so I asked him in Spanish "Estas bien?" He said back to me that he was fine but the woman wasn't.  The man had been going home, just like us, and had come upon the car as well.  So while Mike called for the ambulance, I made my way down through the ditch and headed to the car to see if the woman was, well if she was alive.  

As long as I live, I will never forget the next 10 minutes that followed because of instead of minutes they seemed like hours.  She was slumped over the steering wheel, the remains of her deployed air bag all about her.  I couldn't see her face but I called out to her, "Are you ok? Can you hear me?"  Friends, I gotta tell you that I've never been so happy to hear moaning and groaning for an answer in all of my life.  I slid in next to her in the passenger seat and found her purse so we could figure out who she was.  It made me feel uneasy to open up another person's belongings and I told her while I was doing it that I needed to tell my husband what her name was so the 911 operator could pass along the information.  

I give so much credit to 911 dispatchers EVERYWHERE after this experience yesterday.  As we were waiting for the ambulance to arrive, the woman working the dispatch for 911 kept me on the phone talking all the while about what to do.  She admonished me to keep the woman talking and awake and asked me questions about her injuries.  "Was she bleeding anywhere?  Was she cold?  Could she breathe?"  There was little I could do but that and to hold her very cold right hand.  I kept telling the woman it would be ok, that we were neighbours to the area and I was a teacher from Kansas and a thousand other trivial, non-important things just to keep her awake and talking.  I admonished her to not let go of my hand and to please squeeze it if she was awake.  I gotta say, I cannot remember when holding hands with another person meant so much to me and when she squeezed my hand with a "butcher's grip" it was like a gift from Heaven above.  When we heard the sirens' approach from the hospital in Montrose, it was such a relief.

They came to take her to the hospital and we waited along the edge of the road until she had been loaded into the ambulance before we went the final quarter mile to home.  Both of us agreed that was plenty enough excitement for the day and we went back to our packing.  After only about 20 minutes of being there, we remembered that we hadn't gone back to the art store to pick up the starfish.  That was a strange feeling.  We had decided after looking at it that we'd probably go back to get it after we had gone to the hospice store.  Yet we had forgotten and started the journey home already.  That's when things finally started to make some sense.  

I have said before many times in this blog post that I know that someone way smarter than me is in charge of my life here on this earth.  God's master plan for a little baby named Peggy Ann who was born way back in 1955 has been laid out all along.  It's not an accident or a case of happenstance.  It's real and meaningful for me.  I haven't always understood it but I accept it for the loving gift and blessing that it is.  Mike and I weren't supposed to go back and get the starfish right away, for having done so would not have placed us in a position to help the woman.  We WERE supposed to stop at the McDonald's.  That extra few minutes of time that it took to do so may well have kept our vehicle out of her path as she careened across the road to avoid a deer that had popped up out of the ditch.  I don't even really try to figure it out.  It seems better to accept it as the blessing that it was for all concerned.

As the hours went by last evening, we were thinking about her and wondering if she had made it.  I couldn't get her off of my mind and I told Mike about it.  What was particularly haunting to me, was that I had never seen her face nor had she seen mine.  She was in such a doubled over position upon the steering wheel that all I saw was the back of her beautiful dark red hair. To be real honest, initially I was afraid to see her face because I feared that she might be gone already. As she started to moan and groan I was thankful but I knew that she could not and should not try to move.  But still, what did she look like?  Who was she?

At 8 p.m. we called the hospital and were able to speak with her mom.  Sensing how badly we felt, she said if we wished that we could meet her in the emergency room to see how her daughter was doing.  In just a few moments we were there and finally able to see one another for the first time.  The young woman, named Candace, told me that she recognized my voice and that it was what kept her going in the waiting time it took for the ambulance to show up.  She remembered squeezing my hand and waiting with me.   A sweet little red-haired girl was sitting on a stool next to her momma and I realized then that she was the "extra" social security card in her mother's wallet.  They have just come here to live in Montrose, new people just like me.  When Mike and I left, we told them that we were going home to Kansas today for Christmas but that when we return we will check in to see how things are going. She was pretty badly injured with a broken back but thankfully she will make a full recovery.  We now have new friends here in this place~God always provides. 

In just a few hours, Mike and I will begin the journey back home to Kansas.  The snow has fallen and the weather is of course, not the best. We will go slow and take our time.  The car is packed with emergency supplies and the gas tank will never ever go below 3/4 full.  We have cell phones fully charged and it's not the first time that either of us have made the trip.  If the weather gets worse along the way, we will stop and find a place to wait it out.  I always try to post on Facebook when we get to certain locations along the way. I figure at least that way someone will always know where we have been at a certain time.  After yesterday's experience, we know even more that we must take caution as we go.  I've never smelled the after effects of an air bag going off before yesterday and I can tell you now that I have, I will never forget it.

Friends, if you are reading this then you have awoken.  You are alive and well and it was meant most definitely for you to be here on this earth.  I'm telling you with certainty that God has a plan for you today.  Open your eyes and open your heart as you watch for it to be shown to you.   Accidents can and will happen but LIFE is not one of them.  

I could never tell any of you enough and so I say again....  THANK YOU FOR BEING A FRIEND TO ME AND I LOVE EACH OF YOU SO VERY MUCH.  See you in Kansas very soon.

My older sister~Janice, who died in an auto accident in her 27th year of life.  Her part of "the plan" was completed on November 4, 1969 along Highway 50 near the small south central Kansas town of Halstead.

I am one of her "baby" sisters and have lived to be twice the age that she was.  I have never forgotten or taken for granted the gift of life since that all happened, now nearly 45 years ago.  Thanks to God for the blessings.

as we near the time to cross back over the mountain~

Good morning friends and family with greetings from here along the Western Slopes.  It's 5:23 in the a.m. and how nice it feels to just be sitting here in my pajamas not having to hurry out the door to get to school by 6:15.  Christmas vacation, a winter break from school has finally at long last arrived and for the next 16 days we are "free".  Students and teachers alike, not only from attendance centers in Olathe, Colorado but all over the place as well, are glad.  I am one of them.

The days ahead of us will be full, that's for sure.  Tomorrow, weather still permitting, we will take out for home in Kansas at mid-morning.  Old Monarch Pass will definitely be covered with snow and the going may be slow at times but I am sure that we will make it.  Even if an 11-hour journey turns into a slightly longer one, it doesn't matter because getting there safe and sound is what counts in the "Renfro World" these days.  Mike and I look forward to celebrating with both of our families, the Renfro's on Christmas Eve and the Scott's on Christmas Day.  After Christmas we will head south into Oklahoma and Texas to visit my sister and brother-in-law in Altus, OK and Mike's aunt who lives just across the Red River into Texas.  By next weekend we will make it back here to south western Colorado.  We are praying for safe travel and decent weather but realize that this IS winter time and anything can happen and might!  For all of the travellers out there we pray for travel mercies.  The going may be pretty treacherous for some.

I've been trying to go through old photographs lately and cleaning up the ones I really didn't need to keep while organizing the others into some type of manageable fashion.  A job that really should take only an hour or two has become a much longer one, probably because I have spent so much time looking at each one of them.  Sometimes I'll pull a photo up and show it to Mike, explaining the story that was behind it.  Ever find yourself doing the same thing?  Hey, it should be a good winter time project for me this season so why hurry?

I didn't realize how much fun it would be to take photos, especially of all of the scenery I see each day here in Colorado.  Since my arrival here seven months ago I've taken hundreds of pictures, so many that literally I wore out my camera and it broke.  For the past two weeks I've been without one of my own and you know, I kind of miss it.  So today I'm heading out to buy a new one, having found one I like at the local WalMart.  Even though I really would rather not spend an extra $150 today, especially in the most expensive month of the year sometimes, the way I figure it being able to take photos is a pretty inexpensive way to cure anything that might ail you.  Shoot, I'll probably be money ahead in the long run.

Well, it's time to get this day going with so much to do before we leave for Kansas in about 24 hours from now.  Wishing for all of you guys a wonderful Christmas Day upcoming and a peaceful, prosperous journey into the New Year, 2014.  God bless you all and thank you for being my good friends.  Love you, each one.

From the photo files of 2013, seven of my favourite of photos~

Working with a dear friend and fellow teacher at Lincoln Elementary in Hutchinson, KS.~At this time she was Jessica Mandeville...now Jessica Ray.  A great teacher who really loves her students :)

Little NaDonna and I~Both of us were in the "broken" arm club together in 2011 and unfortunately she found her old membership card and entered it once more this past spring.  She was the flower girl for our wedding and did a great job, even though one arm was dressed in a cast.

Monarch Pass, at the summit on a very cold and snowy February Sunday morning.  This one is where I learned to respectfully "fear" this 11,000 + elevation.  It will probably look very similar to this tomorrow morning as we make our way back to Kansas.

The day that KANSANS came to visit us here along the Western Slopes~Mike's cousin, her husband and their friends from Great Bend stopped in as they were travelling by motorcycle while on vacation in Colorado.  What a spirit lifter that was for this lonesome and homesick flatlander.

WOW~the view from the very top of the Grand Mesa in late June.  It was like seeing the topography map in Mr. McMurray's 7th grade social studies room back at Haven Grade School.  This really was spectacular to see,

Two of the many animal friends that frequent our neighbourhood~up close and personal.

Last but not least, in August we went back to Lincoln Elementary while visiting Kansas and stood underneath the very same basketball goal that we were married under in late May.  Seven months ago today we made the "road" a whole lot shorter.  Time flies~

when it came to a screeching halt~

I should have known better, now REALLY  I should have.  

Having been an educator for 36 years now, I should really have remembered the fact that the last week before Christmas vacation would be  a wild one.  Oh yeah, throw in a full moon too while you're at it and it becomes a recipe for disaster or at the very least a noisy classroom.  By Tuesday of this week I knew that we would be in for trouble if I didn't find a solution soon and just like the proverbial ephiphany that I sometimes receive, the answer came to me early yesterday morning.  

Tuesday I would never have been chosen as a candidate for "teacher of the year" by anyone but if you would have asked my students, they would have gladly volunteered me for "crankiest old person of the year" unanimously.  It was just one of those kind of days and I suppose that we all have them.  It was a combination of a lot of things including children who didn't realize that "get quiet" really meant that, a huge slate of testing to be done, and the fact that the calendar was telling all of us that not only was Christmas just around the bend but that the first semester of school was nearly completed.  And that "recipe for disaster" that I first mentioned?  Well, it was stirred up and in the oven already baking by noontime.  By afternoon, it was done and when they all had been "clipped down" to a level 2 on the behavior chart (and that's not a good thing by the way), I knew that something had to change if we were going to survive the remainder of the week together.

At the school day's end, I stood before them and looked at them all right square into their eyes.  I began my conversation like this~"THIS has been the roughest day we have ever had together.  I want you to hold up your hand if you believe that you have done your part to make it a good day for all of us here."  Not a hand went up and I could tell by the looks on their little faces that they knew exactly what I was talking about.  With just minutes before the last bell of the day would ring, I told them that tomorrow would have to be different and that I would come up with a plan to help us get back on track on our behaviour.  They would have to do their part to make it work.  With that I let them go and to be real honest I didn't have a clue as to  what that special "plan" would be. 

I went home tired with a heck of a headache and ended up falling asleep well before my usual falling asleep on the couch in front of the TV time at 8:15 p.m.  All night long, those kids were popping in and out of my dreams and although I have no memory of what the heck they were doing in there, I remember their faces.  When I got up and headed to school yesterday morning I still had no idea what the plan would be but as I opened the door to our classroom and turned on the lights, it hit me and I knew what I had to do.

When the kids arrived a few hours later, the very first thing I did even before the Flag Salute for heaven's sake, was to walk over to the discipline/behaviour chart and begin to take down all of the "clips" with their names on them and the four sheets that show their level of good/bad behaviour for the day.  (4, 3, 2, 1 and you really ought to stay on "4").  They had a look of surprise on their faces as I removed them and put them away in the cupboard, telling the class that they were gone from the wall until after Christmas break and would stay there until we came back in January.  

"Guys, I want to ask you something, " I began when I returned to the front of the room.  "I want you to consider how you would behave if those charts were NOT on the wall.  I know that you understand what good behaviour looks like, sounds like, IS like.  You are wonderful students who are not making the best of choices this week.  I believe you can turn it around and we will see."  I left it at that and the day began.

I should not have been surprised to see what happened next but this much I can tell you~99.9 percent of it was very good.  No one "ran wild" because the behaviour charts were down and even though from time to time, the noise level would rise a bit, the room became much more manageable.  When I had to call them "back in" from time to time, it didn't take long for it to happen.  By the end of the day, I knew that things had gotten better and we all went home in a much better spirit than we had the day prior.

You know what?  It wasn't just the kids that changed yesterday because in all honesty, their teacher made some adjustments as well.  Many times during that Tuesday "one week before Christmas with a full moon outside" kind of day, I made wrong choices as well.  I could have done much better but I was too busy in a battle of wills with the kids on one side, me on the other, and the behaviour chart smack dab in the middle of us.  Now that I look back, I can tell that the stress that I was having as their teacher was rubbing off on them as well.  And as kids sometimes will do, they react (just like grown ups do) in ways that aren't always so favourable.  I really should have known better.

At day's end yesterday, right before I let them go home, I spoke with them and thanked them for having a much better day.  I told the same thing that they have heard me say time and time again...so much so that they can almost speak the words as I say them.  "I love you guys all and sometimes I have to pause to remember how I looked all summer long for you.  I almost gave up because I thought I wouldn't find you and just in the right moment, THERE YOU WERE!"  Usually about the time I get to the part where I tell them that I almost gave up, someone will say "better get a kleenix someone because she is about ready to cry".  And then we all laugh together.  

Here's a sobering thought that all teachers have, wherever they may teach.  It doesn't matter if it's Colorado, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida or any other state in between.  It is true in every situation.  In our classrooms today there will be students who really wish there wasn't two weeks off from school for vacation at Christmas.  Those are the kids who desperately need the security and safe environment that the school provides for them.  For some kids, it's the ONLY place where it is warm with food to eat and fill their bellies full.  It's the place where cranky old teachers like, oh I don't know, maybe Mrs. Renfro (?) love them and try to guide them along life's way.  Friends, all students but especially those kids need your prayers each and every day.  If you don't believe in the age old saying "It takes a village..." then I'm asking to reconsider your belief.  We need you, THEY need you.

Once I was a kid and if you are reading this, then you were too.  Remember how fun it used to be? May the "kid" that still lives in all of us have a great day.

Kinda funny how God always puts people together in just the right place and time~I love them.

Merry Christmas from our classroom at Olathe Elementary School~

sometimes things change

The calendar on the wall and the icon on the lower right corner of my laptop are sending me the same startling reminder that Christmas Day is exactly one week from today.  I absolutely cannot believe how fast the time has flown since my arrival here in Montrose, Colorado way back in the latter days of May.  First we had Memorial Day, then Independence Day, Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving Day and now Christmas.  Not sure how they crammed all 6 holidays into a 3-month span of time (OK, OK, I know it was six months but you get the idea, right?) but here we are looking the final holiday square in the eyes.  You know how it is....the older you get, the faster it goes.  Time could slow up just a bit and I wouldn't mind.  How about you?

As life has gone on, the holiday traditions around our family have, of necessity, changed a bit.  If your family is like mine, perhaps you understand what I'm saying.  Kids grow up, get married and move away.  The matriarchs and patriarchs of our families at times find themselves residing in nursing homes and assisted living centers, unable to get out and enjoy family celebrations.  One year the economy is doing great and the area underneath the Christmas tree is heavily laden with gifts, yet perhaps the next year a family finds themselves with little to offer their children and Santa does not make it to their house on Christmas Eve.  Times change, traditions change and like it or not, we have to change with them.  Such is life.

When I think back to Christmases of the past, I really have nothing but the happiest of memories.  I came from a big farming family, seven kids in all and I swear to you I do not know how my parents managed to do it each year.  Yet they did.  A kid in our family could generally  count on there being half a dozen presents under the tree for each of us to open up on Christmas Day, no matter what.  There were always a couple of toys or "fun" gifts, for sure some socks, mittens, and pajamas.  As I type these words, a chill has gone down my spine because in all reality, I am asking myself, "What did my folks have to  give up every year for themselves in order to do that for their children?"  

About the leanest of holiday times that I can remember was when I was a fifth grader, way back in 1965.  Money was tight and my parents were both working to support our family.  Wow, when I stop to think about that, I'm kind of amazed.  Back in those days, usually it was just one parent working away from the home but in our case, both Mom and Dad had jobs.  I remember begging my mom a couple of weeks before Christmas that year that I'd like to give everyone a present in our family and what could I get?  So one day after she and Dad came back from the old Gibson's store in Hutchinson, she called me into her bedroom to show me a package of a dozen Bic pens.  Mom told me that if I wanted to, I could wrap each one up individually and put them under the tree for all of my brothers and sisters.  I was thrilled!  Now mind you, it probably only cost about 39 cents for the entire package of them, but to the 10-year old girl that  I was back then it didn't matter.  Christmas morning I watched proudly as each person in my family opened theirs up and they were happy too.  After Christmas vacation was over and I returned to my fifth-grade classroom, I remember telling one of the other girls in my class what I had been able to do.  I will never forget what she told me that day and the smirk on her face as she said it.  "That's ALL you got them?", she asked.  I was so ashamed and humiliated by that encounter that I never told another soul again.....  well that is, until you read this blog post.  And having said what happened to me, FINALLY after all of these many years, I realize the very valuable life lesson that a little girl named Peggy Scott was taught that day.  To my parents, yet another word of thanks in gratitude for the upbringing I received.  Not sure when December 25th turned this "commercial" but it was a sad day when it did.

Our holiday tradition has changed this year, but heck all of life is different for this Kansas farm girl now.  With fingers crossed for decent weather to travel back to Reno County this upcoming weekend, we will make it back home for Christmas with our families in Hutchinson, Haven and Wichita.  Not everyone will be there but in spirit we will feel them alongside us at the table.  It will be Mike's first Christmas back there in five years and had I not been able to return, it would have been my first Christmas ever to NOT be there.  We didn't put up a tree this year but not because we didn't want to celebrate.  Things went so fast after Thanksgiving that the time just simply got away from us.  And while the trees, lights, presents and greeting cards are nice to see everywhere you go....it was never really about all that anyway.  The more we remember that, the nicer our holiday celebration will become.

So on this 18th day of the last month of 2013, my wish for you all is one for peace and joy during the days ahead.  May 2014 be kind to all of us.  Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year for each of us.  From Montrose, Colorado~

Christmas of 2010~the best gifts that a momma could ask for...Ursela, Ricky, and Grahame

Christmas at Haven, KS in 2012~my niece Jessica Scott and I after we had finished talking about plans for me to visit her in NYC this past spring.

For anyone who is struggling with life especially during the holidays, a good lesson to remember.

The "lowly" Bic pen is actually very valuable, especially when we need one and can't find it.  I'm smiling as I type THESE words :)

Upon having realized this

Early morning greetings everyone from a place so very far away from you all.  It's 4:34 in the a.m. here now and the sky is still dark because, well it's supposed to be :)  The outdoor temperature is hovering at about 16 degrees with a south wind at 8 mph.  It's definitely not "flip-flop" weather but then again, it's not supposed to be.  In four more days, the winter solstice arrives~my younger sister's 56th birthday and the shortest day (in daylight hours at least) of the whole year.  Thankfully as each passing day goes by after that, we shall receive more and more sunshine until at last the dark goes away and the light returns.  We'll make it~

I had kind of a sobering thought last evening as I was thinking about the "18" and the many things that we have learned together since we met one another at Olathe Elementary School back in mid-August.  I have told them many times that I've been at this "teaching thing" for nearly 4 decades now and have probably taught many hundreds of students over the course of 36 years.  I tell them about how I have kept in touch with a lot of the kids from my days in education back in the south central Kansas communities of Haven and Hutchinson.  I even tell them that there have been a couple of instances where I taught more than one generation of a family and THAT nearly gets me when I stop to think of it.  What a real blessing it has been to have been able to do that.  Geesch, to teach a first grader one year and to reconnect with that same first grader 30 years later with their OWN first grader is a feat, that's for sure.  Not every teacher is given that gift and I am well aware of it and I give thanks to God for that.  

Yet as I stop to look at the faces of the children in my class this year, I realize that because now I am definitely not as young as I used to be, there's a good chance that I won't be able to reconnect with them when they are older.  30 years from now, they will be nearly 40 years old and I'll be either gone or a whole lot older.  By the way, I think I will have figured out how to stay retired by then :)  And although I have tried very hard to make every year count for each student that I have taught, for some reason I find myself trying even harder this year for the group of 4th graders that call me their "teacher".  I want them to know how much I care about them and that when Mrs. Renfro sometimes has to be a little on the "cranky" side, well it's because I love them and want them to make it in this world of ours.  I do what I can each day and I ask them to do the same and even if I am not around 30 years into the future (or heck even if I am) I want the world to see that they made it, just like their old fourth-grade teacher would have wished for them.

Last year about this time, I received the kindest of invitations from two former students (a brother and sister who are now very grown up) to join them and their extended family for Christmas in the beautiful city of McPherson, Kansas.  I wrote a blog post about my experience in so doing last year about this time and I'm reposting it below.  What a wonderful time I had as I became "one of them" for an evening in time.  Although I won't be able to be with them this year, I will surely be remembering  them as they gather together in a place about 30 miles from my old home in Hutchinson.  I'll be thinking of that good family and attending "vicariously" in my heart and mind. Those two kids and so many others have a place in my heart forever and no matter where I go, no matter how far I might be from where they are, I will always be remembering them.

Have a great Tuesday everyone out there.  A busy day is ahead for us all.  Take care, be at peace and well with life.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

upon knowing that they grew up~

One of my ongoing "Miller Bucket List" goals has been "to meet up with each of my Facebook friends in person, buy them something to drink and talk about life for a while."  Last evening, I was afforded the opportunity to spend some time with 3 of them in McPherson.  I'd love for you to meet my friends on Facebook and my friends in "real life" as well~Michael Wilde, Amy Pratt and Jan Moyer.

Ok, this would be Michael and it warmed my "teacher's heart" to see that after all of these many long years, he hasn't changed a bit.  He's just a kid in a "40 something", older guy's body.  I love that about him.  When I first met Michael he was just an "active" sixth grade boy and I was a beginning 24-year old teacher who encountered him in the hallways as we passed for classes each day.  Although my memory from the times has dimmed a  bit, I'm sure he always walked nicely down the hall in a quiet and reserved manner but then of course, I have been called a "dreamer" before.  Hard for me to realize that Michael is now married with two fine children of his own.  He has worked hard to make a great life for himself and his family.  I could not be prouder of him and his accomplishments. 

This would be Amy, Michael's older sister.  This child, now a very grown woman with 3 kids of her own, was one of my very first students the year I began teaching at Haven Grade School back in 1979.  She has not changed in any way either, still the same sweet young lady that I remember from those many long years ago in the land of "far, far away".  Amy has done exceptionally well for herself in this life and the pride that I feel in her brother, goes equally as well for her as well.  

And last, yet certainly not the least, here's their mom, Jan Moyer.  She's been such a great friend to me over the years and I'll always remember her as being one of the very first people that I had a "parent-teacher" conference with, now well over 30 years ago.  As a teacher, I remember and acknowledge  how nice it has always been to have parents just like Jan who make it their practice to support their children's teachers in whatever they felt it necessary to do.  Jan, a proud mother and grandmother, now lives in Nebraska.  It was wonderful to see her once again.  

I received the nice "invite" from both Amy and Michael to come and meet them in McPherson last evening for supper as they and their extended family met for the first night of their weekend Christmas get together.  Even though we have all been Facebook friends for several years now, it had been way more years than I could even remember that we had seen one another in person.  My best guess is that it's been more than 25 years and since the world didn't end on December 21st as some people said it would, I thought "What the heck?  Let's do it!"

For more than 3 hours this past Friday evening, I was the guest of one of the most delightful, friendly and hospitable groups of people you could ever have imagined.  Even though I initially knew only 3 people, by the time I had gathered up my things to head back to Hutch I knew about 15 more of them.  And you know what?  It felt nice~  There was food galore, a multitude of conversations to join in with, lots of laughter and thanks to my dear little friend Michael, plenty of games to be played.  

Friends, you know I learned something last night....no wait a minute, let me rephrase that.  I was reminded of something that I already knew but all too often forget about.  I may not have been related by "blood" to one single soul there last night at their annual Christmas gathering.  But that didn't matter because people like Amy, Michael, and Jan are all of the belief that dear friends, even ones you haven't seen in forever and "a bunch of Sundays" are like family members in different ways.  And to you, 3 of my dearest of friends, I say "thank you" for that sobering reminder. To ALL of the great folks that were there last evening at that beautiful and festive home on Turkey Creek Drive, "Thanks for including me and making me feel as if I truly belonged there."  (a big fat lump in my throat as I write these words)

I long ago stopped trying to keep track of just how many students I've had the privilege to teach over the course of more than 35 years.  Maybe a thousand?  Maybe more?  I would love to tell you that I remember each of them by name, but I'm afraid that is not the case. You know, I used to think that it was a terrible thing to be a teacher who spent 9 months with a child yet couldn't recall their name in the years to come.  Now, I have come to know that it's "life" and also that I'm not the only teacher it affects that way. But for every one of those students' names that I've tucked away in the very back of my "teacher's memory bank", there are just as many of whom I will NEVER forget their names.  Michael Wilde and Amy Pratt are two of them.  

Well, the clock on the wall says that it's already nigh onto nearly 7:30.  The day has gone so quickly.  Before closing this post, Amy and Michael~the message below is for you in "particular" but also as well to ANY student I have had the privilege and blessing to know in this life of mine.  
And so, for what it's worth:

"You two kids!  I thought about you all the way home last evening and actually you have been on my mind today as well.  I want you to know something~(and pretty dang good thing I've got Kleenix aplenty as I do this) I love you two children with all of my "teacher's heart".  I am so proud of both of you and what you have made of your lives.  I know it's not always easy, in fact it's pretty tough sometimes to grow up in this world of ours.  As a teacher, all I could do was to prepare you the best I could yet I knew that you would have to learn so very much of life's lessons alone and on your own.  The best laid plans sometimes go astray~and as they say, "that proverbial pile of  #$%% happens" and about the only thing you can do is just to keep going and "soldiering" on.  Listen to me and know that I speak the truth when I tell you both this~My heart is absolutely filled and running over with pride for you both.  I'm going to repeat that again,  just in case you weren't paying attention (LOL, LOL all right it's the teacher in me).....  I could not feel any prouder of you than I do right now.  I only met you as a "first year" teacher~heck, I didn't know what I was doing about 50% of the time.  And although you never realized it Amy, I was as confused about math sometimes as you were!  But here's how we made it~We held hands and we stuck together.  I am so glad to have been a part of both of your lives then and wow, ever so glad to continue to be a part of your lives on December 22, 2012. May God bless you both, your families as well.  I'm always "pulling for you" and even though we may find ourselves miles apart, "Mrs. Miller" (LOL) will always "have your backs".  And by the way, one last thing~Those soft and kind hearts that both of you have?  Don't ever lose them, no matter what life deals you or others around you.  They "define" you and make you the persons that you were destined to become.  Have I told you that I love you?  If I have, then consider it told once again :) ~Peggy

PS/Thank you for the gift of the new record player.  I have felt like a kid in high school "all over" again today.  Listen, can you hear it playing in the background?  I'm listening to the song "Woodstock" by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young on their album called "Deja Vu".  What, you never heard of them?  Ah, it's ok~some day we shall listen to it together.  Good night!